Disabled cars sit in water at the corner of Franklin and Somerset streets in Portland during Wednesday's deluge. Flooding has been a problem in the area for decades, but the city has yet to take aggressive steps to address it.
Gabe Souza/Staff Photographer

Portland’s Bayside neighborhood has been struck by significant floodwaters twice in 14 months, renewing debate about addressing the problem in an area prime for development that also is vulnerable to storms and sea level rise.

Numerous cars were stranded in several feet of floodwater Wednesday in the low-lying areas near the intersection of Franklin and Somerset streets after a storm dropped 5.6 inches of rain on Portland in a matter of hours. In terms of magnitude, the storm fell just shy of the deluge – the fifth-worst in Portland history – that dumped 6.4 inches on the city on Aug. 13, 2014, and also caused major flooding in Bayside and other city neighborhoods.

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Flooding has been a problem for decades in Bayside and other areas of Portland, including near the Commercial Street piers.

But despite growing commercial development in Bayside in the area adjacent to Back Cove, the city has yet to take aggressive steps to address the flooding or adapt to the reality that water levels are rising in the Gulf of Maine. A major apartment complex planned for Bayside, known as the “midtown” project, would have raised the elevation of Somerset Street farther above sea level, but that project is in limbo amid disagreements between the developer and city officials.

City Councilor David Marshall said he has been frustrated by the “very slow pace” of work to address the flooding.

“We need a plan for how we are going to be able to handle this type of storm event because they seem to be happening more often, with some pretty severe consequences,” said Marshall, chairman of the City Council’s Transportation, Sustainability and Energy Committee. “I think that is going to be a challenge for (city manager) Jon Jennings to take on. It is going to take leadership.”

CITY TO PREPARE PLAN FOR ADAPTING

The potential effects of sea level rise have been on the agenda in Portland for years, as it has been in coastal communities elsewhere in Maine and in states on both coasts. Although Maine’s rocky shoreline means it may see fewer impacts than coastal states to the south, communities such as Saco, Damariscotta and York already have begun changing building requirements in flood zones or incorporating sea level rise into their comprehensive plans.

Sea levels rose 7.5 inches in Portland from 1912 to 2011, according to tide gauges in the city. The rate of increase over the past two decades is roughly double that of the previous period. And scientists believe oceans worldwide will continue to rise as glaciers melt because of climate change, although estimates vary on the extent of that rise and how rapidly it will occur.

Peter Slovinsky, a Maine Geological Survey marine geologist who has worked with Portland and other communities on how to prepare for rising sea levels, said the likelihood of major flooding incidents in Portland increase tenfold when sea levels rise by a foot.

Slovinsky said the first step in planning how to adapt to rising sea levels is understanding a city’s vulnerabilities. Over the past several years, Portland officials have worked with Slovinsky, as well as local university researchers and organizations such as the federal Department of Homeland Security and the Portland Society for Architecture, to begin to identify those vulnerabilities. The bigger challenge – financially and politically – is to identify the next steps in what will inevitably be a costly and years-long process involving changes to zoning and building codes, as well as extensive infrastructure upgrades.

“We are toward the beginning of that process,” said Bill Needelman, the city’s waterfront coordinator and the man leading the city’s efforts to adapt to rising sea levels.

The city’s current budget includes up to $100,000 – paid out of Tax Increment Financing revenues from new Bayside development, not citywide property taxes – to begin working on climate change adaptation in the neighborhood. Needelman expects work on an adaptation plan for Bayside to begin some time in the next year.

He said city staff will likely use Wednesday’s storm to hone decisions about whether to close streets before major weather events and continue to inform decisions about upgrading infrastructure.

“It is going to be an ongoing process of learning to live with water, but also adapting our infrastructure to better deal with the water,” he said.

WORKING AROUND BAYSIDE FLOODING

Much of the area in Bayside was actually part of Back Cove or tidal marshes that were filled with gravel or debris after the Great Fire of 1866. As a result, parts of Bayside frequently flood during astronomical high tides. Wednesday’s storm presented a challenge because the deluge of rain coincided with a high tide, meaning that rainwater pouring into the stormwater system had nowhere to go.

Brandon Lerman, whose family has operated E. Perry Iron and Metal on the corner of Pearl and Somerset streets for four generations, is accustomed to flooding during heavy rain events and astronomical high tides. But Wednesday’s flooding ranked among the worst he has seen, perhaps topped only by the Patriots Day storm of 2007. E. Perry Iron and Metal did not sustain damage, but Lerman said he saw many cars stranded in the floodwaters around his family’s business and the Whole Foods Market across the street.

“Yesterday was unique,” Lerman said. “We actually shut down early. We rarely close early because of weather.”

Lerman’s business is located just down the road from the site of the proposed midtown development that has been at the center of the debate over flooding adaptations for years.

The city owns 3.5 acres of former industrial land along Somerset Street, an especially low-lying road known locally as “Somerset Lagoon” because of its propensity to fill with water during heavy rain or extraordinarily high tides. Cattails grow on the city-owned land, which has been under contract for years to be developed into hundreds of residential apartments.

Because of the recurring floods and predictions of sea level rise, the developer’s plan calls for building the ground floor of new buildings about 2 feet above the current street level. The city and developer, Federated Cos., agreed to share the $4 million cost of raising a section of Somerset Street by about 2 feet.

However, the fate of the midtown project is now unclear. It has been long delayed by community opposition focusing on the scale of the project, and the developer and the city are now mired in a dispute over the terms of the land sale contract.

SURMOUNTING PROBLEM EXPENSIVE

On Thursday, neither city officials nor the developers would provide an update on the negotiations or status of the project.

Marshall, the Portland councilor, said the city “sort of backed into this policy discussion of raising Somerset Street” because insurance companies made clear that buildings had to be constructed farther above flood stage.

City Councilor Jon Hinck said Portland has only taken “baby steps” in addressing the challenges presented by rising sea levels. While Hinck can envision a day when Portland’s waterfront is dramatically reconfigured – with more elevated or floating structures – he said the city has an obvious interest in preserving the historic attributes of Commercial Street. Any major changes in Bayside or throughout the city will likely be expensive.

“The city of Portland has to do a hell of a lot more, and it is a struggle for me,” Hinck said. “To the extent that it requires city financial resources, I find that to be a challenge because I am trying to keep (taxes) from rising.”

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diogenese2

Shouldn’t the front page of even a mediocre newspaper be dedicated to reporting verified facts completely and honestly ? It seems inappropriate to use the front page to spew feelings , opinions ,and propaganda .

UserInterface

I find these facts to be self-evident. I’ve lived here a long time.

Bob Rossi

I agree

diogenese2

For thousands of years it was “self-evident” that the Earth was flat .

UserInterface

Science backs the self-evident changes in climate and weather. Ignore it at your peril.

sequoiaqueneaux

Until exploration and science proved it wasn’t. Just as science has proven that manmade climate change is happening. Do you know more than NASA? More than the vast, vast majority of climate scientists? No, you don’t. So sit down.

Scott Harriman

Can you clarify what part of the article constitutes “feelings, opinions and propaganda”?

LogicalGranny

Some people can’t handle the truth. That’s no reason for the rest of us to close our eyes, block our ears, and sing la-la-la-la, hoping the truth will go away and leave us alone.

notspot

What was it Governor LePage said the other day? Something about not being able to fix?

tet1953

Maybe LePage will build a seawall and get Canada to pay for it 🙂

yellowkid49

I missed the “spewing,” just what part was that?

Umtallguy

the entire article. This was a heavy rain storm. Nothing to do with sea level rise which the article was all about.

Scott Harriman

Where does all that rainwater go? Into the ocean.

What happens when the level of the ocean is higher? Things don’t drain as quickly, causing flooding.

yellowkid49

You can argue the cause, but the records indicate the sea level has risen, which increases the effects of heavy rain in an area adjacent to the water. I just know what my lying eyes tell me, but I’d say there is a problem there.

sequoiaqueneaux

Do you know what tides are? And how unfortunately timed high tides combined with sea level rise will cause more and more flooding events like these during storms? You have no idea what you are talking about.

sequoiaqueneaux

It’s an undeniable scientific fact that sea levels are rising due to climate change and these flooding events will be more and more common. You weirdo reality-deniers no longer matter.

Erik Vanderlieb

Well, they have always the choice of building up the height of that area with fill, but why do that when it’s clear that land is soon enough going to go under? There is lots of higher land. Nature will make the choice for us anyway and the area will be abandoned once sea level rises another foot or so and that will happen sooner, probably 20 years, no more.

Aldin1

Maybe take a lesson from the Gulf Coast and require buildings on pylons? If heavy rain is in the forecast, CLOSE down the streets early and only allow boats through? Oh, and require Whole Foods to change it’s name to Whole Floods. (chuckle)

go2goal

If I can’t see the polar ice caps and glaciers melting from my front porch, then I won’t believe it! ….. Sentiments of the typical American Republican and those who get their information from Billionaire Rupert Murdoch and his Fox news and Wall Street Journal.

Murdoch now owns national Geographic as well – so you can kiss that source of information adios as well.

PortlandGenXer

No fix? That seems rather misleading.

More like, as with every other infrastructure problem in this nation, people are “unwilling” to fix what’s broken.

Mark Gravel

This is not broken, so there is no need to fix it.

yellowkid49

It would appear from the photo of the almost submerged auto’s that there is most definitely a problem. Are you one of the “fact deniers”?

Mark Gravel

You choose to build in a floodplain, you accept the risks and the costs.

There is no problem the city needs to fix.

Those are the facts.

sequoiaqueneaux

Will you still be saying that when Commercial Street is gone? No problem here! Durrrrrrrrrrrrrrrr.

PortlandGenXer

Maybe not broken, but regular maintenance is almost always a good idea.

Build some levees… seems simple enough.

Mark Gravel

How about leaving it up to the free market instead of dumping taxpayer dollars on levees. Portland, and Maine in general, has plenty of land, so let people migrate to higher ground or keep spending their own dollars to rebuild after a flood.

Folks, it does not get any simpler than that. Isn’t that what our ancestors did – migrate?

Maine is not land bound – move in land.

PortlandGenXer

You do realize that this country was built by tax payer dollars, right? All the bridges, roads, municipal services?

Mark Gravel

Wrong Gen Xer, why do you think drivers must pay road and bridge tolls? The answer is because there are private roads and bridges in this country.
Moreover, spending on levees is not necessary when you can migrate inland. Portland is not Venus Italy.
In closing, the fact that some infrastructure is public funded does not mean all infrastructure is publicly funded nor should it be nor should all project be build, such a levee, especially when it is more cost effective to migrate inland.

Do it on the cheap – migrate, migrate, migrate…

PortlandGenXer

I didn’t realize Marginal way was a toll road.

Mark Gravel

And there is nothing in the social contract that says it has to be maintained.
Migrate…

Inspector Clouseau

“Venus Italy”???

Hey genius, every paved road in Greater Portland is owned and maintained by some governmental entity (city, county, state, or federal) with the exception of a handful of private roads (usually unpaved). Unless you would prefer to live in the woods like Ted Kaczynski, you’re going to have to pay some sort of tax to improve and maintain urban infrastructure….

Mark Gravel

This is what I call the pendulum response. It is far easier to move Portland inland than Venus. Hence, it is more cost effective to migrate the population than build levees. It has zero to do with who owns the road. It has everything to do with responding to the circumstances cost effectively.

Sorry if you bought ocean front property, but unless you want to share that property with then Maine taxpayer don’t use their hard earned money to protect your property – it is that simple.

Several states are contemplating forced abandonment of coastal settlements – it is the much cheaper alternative, especially when resources are limited.

Migrate inland…

GladysKravitz

All you yups, it has not been decades, it’s been centuries…no one builds there because it’s wetlands filled in as a DUMP! The Dump Rangers lived there in harmony with the ecosystem. They didn’t have much, especially fancy autos, because unlike boats they do not float. Anyone with a brain knows where the low points and washouts are in Maine. The original settlers took all their ashes, bucket droppings, you know basically anything that was trash or not wanted by humans lugged it to the top of the hill and dumped in toward Marginal Way. Took centuries to fill it all in, it really should be left as it is because it is not stable ground and tall buildings will sink, or be flooded out. Find another city to “love too much” there are lots of us that would love to move back as soon as you all discover your new GEM city…

yellowkid49

There aren’t many cities on either coast that aren’t, in part, built on fill. There are ways of addressing this, but they can be costly.

axion56

You do have some valid points , however the entire Commercial St area ( also affected by flooding ) is also built on a filled area . The waterfront was once along Fore St . Buildings such as Custom House , Thomas Block , and many other old buildings have survived for years . My guess is Commercial St area might have been filled w/ more substantial material , such as granite , while trash was dumped in Bayside . Much of Back Bay , in Boston , was filled as we watch Hancock Tower drop windows and slowly ” settle ” into the muck . Seems to me that resolving Somerset St and this area of Backside should be higher priority than making Franklin Arterial , a major thoroughfare , more neighborhood , pedestrian , and bike friendly by reducing number of traffic lanes .

smosh

buildings such as the Hancock tower are built on pilings that are driven to the bedrock below the muck. I assume midtown would be, too. (and the falling window problem when the HT was first built was due to wind flex – addressed? by installing shifting ballast/weights on an upper floor)

Mark Gravel

“City Councilor David Marshall said he has been frustrated by the “very slow pace” of work to address the flooding.”

The city need not do a damn thing. Build at your own risk. If your property gets destroyed, they you are responsible for all costs to clean it up.
How about some individual responsibility and accountability.

Braindead Republican

There certainly is a fix. For Portland and many other places that will be affected.
But unlikely that it will be done in a timely manner in the USA. Partisan bickering, a general unwillingness to fund any cooperative effort, head in the sand mentality, you name it. Our country is Dysfunctional with with a capital D.
The Netherlands? That backward, socialist pariah in old Europe? They have dealt effectively with this issue for centuries.
But as far as we’re concerned here in the greatest country in the world, the best country that has ever been, well, we aren’t going to be taught anything by some wooden shoe wearing foreign types.

Davis X. Machina

The fix is to fire all the climatologists, and make the teaching of meterology a felony. Also, no more funding for weather buoys or satellites.

Climate change will stop overnight — and we’ll save money doing it!

Oh, and Al Gore is fat.

notspot

Sounds great! Remember the old times when Monday was beautiful and then Tuesday there was a hurricane. Why would anyone need advance notice?

Umtallguy

So a heavy rain that has absolutely nothing to do with sea level rise is linked to it how?
Low wet area that floods. Always has. All the city should do is add some of the flood depth signs on poles so idiots don’t drive into the deep water. About 50 bucks in paint and a couple sheets of plywood should cover it.

sequoiaqueneaux

Are you stupid? Obviously the undeniable FACT that the sea level is rising due to climate change means flooding from events like this will be more and more common. Open your eyes and stop denying reality. Thanks.

Inspector Clouseau

Sea level rise has been verified, even if the cause is still being debated; many of the Global Warming deniers even acknowledge that fact. In this instance, the stormwater from the deluge had nowhere to go because an astronomical high tide just happened to overtop the shoreline and spill over into low-lying areas at the same time (basically a smaller scale re-enactment of Sandy in NJ/NY from 3 years ago).

Umtallguy

Again sea level rising had nothing to do with this. It was not a storm surge and I see nothing in the story that indicates any of this was sea water. A low lying wet are of filled marshland that poorly drains filled up during a heavy rain event with runoff. Per weather reports yesterday was likely the sixth highest 24 hour rainfall on record in the city. Again folk can argue back and forth over if the rain event was global warming related sure, but sea levels had nothing to do with the flooding.

“Portland’s flooding was aggravated by an 11.6-foot high tide, which peaked at 1:14 p.m., leaving no room for the city’s storm drains to discharge the sudden volume of water. Instead, columns of water dislodged manhole covers and inundated busy intersections. Once the tide went out, floodwaters receded and stranded motorists were able to get their cars towed.”

Even if Back Cove did not overtop its banks, it was still high enough to prevent easy drainage of stormwater….

morn’joe

Using a rain storm to promote developing in a flood zone?

disqus_J4FEKe911A

There is a smart fix to this problem. Creating a dam or floodgate that could open and close around the Tukey Bridge area would alleviate the tidal surge in all of the areas surrounding Back Cove. This floodgate could remain open 99% of the time so that the cove would function the exact same way it does today. However, if a large storm event was predicted, the floodgate could be shut at low tide so that all of the storm water that currently drains into Back Cove would be able to do so. Once the storm was over or the tide has gone out, the floodgate could open again so that the cove would function as normal. This would be a far better solution than raising streets one by one. The problem would be solved all at once rather than benefiting one property at a time and taking decades, if not longer, to complete. I’m sure this would be an expensive proposition, but how much is it going to cost to raise all of the streets surrounding Back Cove? In this long run, I believe a dam or flood gate is the wiser and more economical solution.

krikorik

you may have a tide + a storm, and it will get you very unprepared for it

Jim_L

This has nothing to do with “Rising Sea Levels.” This latest flooding came from a massive rain event that did not have proper drainoff capabilities. This area has ALWAYS been a problem, probably for HUNDREDS of years, and should never have been developed in the first place. Let’s stop the Climate Change Alarmism associated with almost EVERYTHING.